Police raid Paris town hall over socialist mayor’s £51,000 trip to Tahiti
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Police have raided Paris town hall as part of a probe into the socialist mayor’s taxpayer-funded trip to Tahiti, which she prolonged for a two-week “holiday”.
Anne Hidalgo’s trip to the French Pacific island, which requires a flight of around 24 hours from Paris, has sparked howls of disapproval from the opposition and other critics of the Left-wing mayor.
They accused her of overspending while massively raising housing tax to keep the city financially afloat.
They also complained the travel created a large carbon footprint for an official who claims to be an environmental crusader.
Specialist financial crimes officers and prosecutors from the National Financial Prosecutor (PNF) took part in the raid on city hall.
Ms Hidalgo justified her trip by linking it to this year’s Paris Olympics, whose surfing contest will be held at Teahupoo in Tahiti.
Bring your partner
But she brought her partner and tacked on a two-week personal stay to the €60,000 (£51,200) official visit. Anti-graft association AC!! (Anti-Corruption) said her stay included a visit to her daughter, who lives on a nearby island.
She has maintained that she paid for the personal leg of the travel, including her flight home.
Ms Hidalgo’s office had “already voluntarily produced supporting documentation regarding the journey of a city delegation to French Polynesia and New Caledonia”, another French Pacific territory, it told AFP in a written statement.
It added that it had provided additional documents that investigators had asked for on Tuesday.
City hall also highlighted that its own ethics commission – whose members are nominated by Ms Hidalgo – had found no issue with the Polynesia trip.
The town hall’s statement justifying the trip “does not answer the basic question: how was this long stay of six people in the Pacific in the interest of Parisians?” said protest group Changer Paris, dubbing the affair “Tahitigate”.
The mayor did not release pictures from her trip and instead during her time away continued posting on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram about daily Paris issues from sports stadiums to cycle lanes.
Le Monde said she had “given the impression of not fully taking responsibility for being 16,732 kilometres from her city”, noting one video had shown her cycling along the Seine when she was in fact in New Caledonia.
After the controversy erupted, Ms Hidalgo acknowledged the issue had “provoked reactions and many things could be said”.
“Parisians have the right to have reliable, factual and transparent information,” she added.
